Alexander Calder - Editions Southampton New York Saturday, June 25, 2022 | Phillips

Editions Southampton

New York Auction 25 June 2022

  • "Calder fait des fêtes pour la vie (Calder makes festivals for life)"
    —Jacques Prévert 

    • Literature

      Jean Lipman, Calder's Universe, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1977, see pp. 133-4, 147

    • Catalogue Essay

      Fêtes is a delightful forty-eight-page prose-poem homage to Calder accompanied by his brilliantly colored embossed etchings. Sandy described how these were done: he made an exact drawing in color, and then cut out the abstract shapes from sheet metal a bit heavier than the aluminum he uses for mobiles. These shapes were laid out in the open press, arranged according to the drawing, and the specified colors were brushed on. The paper was run through the press, and the metal pieces produced a subtle embossed effect in the finished print. This process is as unconventional and personal as the hammered-wire woodblocks he made years ago, and the etchings relate directly to his mobiles, just as the woodblock prints relate to his early wire sculpture. Jean Lipman, Calder's Universe, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1977, p. 134

    • Artist Biography

      Alexander Calder

      American • 1898 - 1976

      Alexander Calder worked as an abstract sculptor and has been commonly referred to as the creator of the mobile. He employed industrious materials of wire and metal and transformed them into delicate geometric shapes that respond to the wind or float in air. Born into a family of sculptors, Calder created art from childhood and moved to Paris in 1926, where he became a pioneer of the international avant-garde. In addition to his mobiles, Calder produced an array of public constructions worldwide as well as drawings and paintings that feature the same brand of abstraction. Calder was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania.

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22

Alexander Calder

Fêtes (Holidays)

1971
The complete set of seven aquatints plus the cover in colors, on Arches paper, loose and folded (as issued), with title page and text by Jacques Prévert, contained in the original red linen-covered portfolio.
all I. 11 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. (29.8 x 23.5 cm)
all S. folded 17 5/8 x 13 in. (44.8 x 33 cm)
Signed by the artist and author in pencil and numbered 121 (printed) on the colophon, from the edition of 200 (there were also 25 hors commerce in Roman numerals, the first 25 contained an additional set of prints), published by Maeght, Paris.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$6,000 - 8,000 

Sold for $10,080

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Editions Southampton

New York Auction 25 June 2022